Abandoned properties growing problem

ALEXANDRIA — Rapides Parish officials know they have a problem with abandoned, rundown properties. That poses another problem: what to do with them.

As economic conditions have stagnated, rising humbers of properties have been vacated and left to decay. The Rapides Parish Police Jury is looking for solutions.

There are no easy answers.

"We are concerned about it, just like everyone else," said District I Juror Scott Perry. "Something needs to be done about the situation, we just have to figure out what the best course of action is."

"It's a blight on the community," said Dennis Woodward, public works director for the parish. "It brings down everybody's property values. I wouldn't want it next to me. It gets frustrating, because we know there are a lot of them around."

Mike Haynes of Haynes Real Estate in Alexandria has been in the property business for nearly 40 years. As an appraiser and broker, he sees neighborhoods throughout the area. What he sees concerned him enough to go before the Police Jury and ask that they do something about it.

In all his time in the business, Haynes said, he has never seen abandoned properties grow to be such a problem.

"It's a problem that's not going to go away because we want it to," Haynes said. "If the economy stays the way that it is, it's only going to get worse. ... There are a lot of people who if they had to sell their properties would be really badly affected. I just feel sorry for them."

The existence of rundown properties in a neighborhood reduces property values of nearby residents, Haynes said, and presents a negative picture of your area to businesses that might be looking to locate there and brings down the community as a whole.

"It's one of those things that, unless there's a house in your neighborhood, you don't get concerned about it," Haynes said. "A lot of people are going to say, 'it's not my problem.' But we're all citizens of this community. What affects one of us affects all of us. It's a matter of community pride. Are we going to let this go on?" (2 of 2)

Michelle Berkley, who lives on Marlene Street, across from an abandoned property, says: "It could be a beautiful house if someone bought it and fixed it up. But it has grass growing up and everything. It's open, it's not closed off, and the neighborhood kids play in there. Homeless people hang out in front. Sometimes it's scary."

The dilemma the Police Jury faces is what to do with these properties.

The jury has debated how to control the problem, and has run into funding issues. The standard solution would be to file suit to have the worst of the properties condemned as health hazards, but that would leave the parish on the hook to remove the hazard. That could cost several thousand dollars or more for properties where structures have to be demolished.

The parish, jury legal counsel Tom Wells pointed out, is already strapped for money. The current year's budget lacks funds to demolish the many properties around the parish that could be candidates for comndemnation, and the jury would be hard pressed to find the money to add to the budget in the future.

"Do we have the funds to do that?" Wells said. "Basically, there's no money to demolish the houses, unless you're going to allocate that money in the budget every year. Unless the parish wants to pass a tax, where's the money going to come from? Government can't do everything, especially in this economy. You can't do what you did even five years ago."

The jury did form a committee to explore what can be done about the issue, including how to hold property holders accountable, particularly out-of-state mortgage companies that, District H Juror Richard Billings said, "don't care about conditions in Rapides Parish."

"You've got to start somewhere," said Billings, president of the jury. "We know it's a problem. I think what we've got to do is come up with something that takes them all into account. We can't say we'll do this one but not that one."

A solution Haynes would like to see explored is finding a legal basis for local residents to maintain neighborhood properties to some extent if they have been abandoned for a length of time.

"It's going to come down to individual neighborhoods," Haynes said.

"There has got to be some way that after so long a period of time, they can legally do something with the property, at least clean the yard up. ... Most of the people living in these neighborhoods probably don't know if there is any help available. They think, 'What can I do? I can't go onto someone's property and clean it up myself.' They think their hands are tied."